Dek Unu April 2018 Gregg Morgan

Dek

Unu

Magazine

Solo Exhibitions of Fine
Photoart Portfolios

April, 2018

Featured Artist

Gregg Morgan

Moments In Stillness"

Cover Image: The Stranger
© Gregg Morgan

Artist Interview - Gregg Morgan

Welcome, Gregg. Deeply seen images! How did you get here?

From before I could read, I discovered the power and impact of imagery
thanks to Time Magazine, People, and National Geograpivc. Recently, I
have been diagnosed as having Autism, specifically Autistic Spectrum
Disorder ... my photos have been telling me this for years, I just wasn't
listening.

I earned my BFA at the Art Institute of Virginia. The Art Institute (Al) not
only understood my eccentric way of seeing the world and my unique
approach to problem solving, the instructors also helped me to stop
fighting my thought processes and to begin to nurture them. I can still
hear my instructors' voices in my head... "Yeah, that's great work, what
else you got?" and " Only when the rules are understood can you break
themr and "What about other perspectives?"

It can't have been easy. Most of us, even those who consider
themselves neurotypical, brought illusions to University or formal
training that were bashed in the process of getting the degree.

School was a scary, wonderfully, dreadfully, amazing place for an
Aspie. The instructors were bastards (brilliant crazy and driven
bastards) forcing me to work across all mediums and techniques,
most of which I had been ignorant of before.“Why does a
photographer need drawing or painting or sculpture?" I see it in
retrospect - it w ( as never really the act itself or the finished project, but
in the doing. To quote Thoreau, "Not until we are lost do we begin to
understand ourselves." Through Al I learned how to apply color
theory, to incorporate the elements of design, to analyze and critique
my own werk more stringently -1 learned to slow down and see' the
image before even touching the camera.

The Art Institute environment encourages freaks like myself to not
only accept their understanding of their unique perspective on
reality; but to push and stretch and shove and expand that
perspective to a new place that can only come from within.

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From the Renaissance Masters I have learned to appreciate
Light's character, tone, and quality. Science has taught me
that the properties of light are not much different than that of
water, white light is not white, black is the absence of light, and
light has weight (that one still messes with my head.)
Photographic technology allows the freedom to create with a
camera that which only my mind can envision. In reality, our
eyes are limited to seeing only those surfaces which reflect
light - the camera allows us to see the darkness coming from
the unseen surfaces. My camera allows me to bend time and
space, to capture motion in a single frame, to manipulate the
laws of physics, to bring chaos from order, and vice versa.

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World's Best Apartment

Negative Bubble

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Cubist Smokestack

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Artist Interview - Gregg Morgan

It is helpful to think of autism spectrum disorder as
a talent for extraordinary focus. Talk more about
your process, how you make these amazing
images.

It all starts with a few double espressos to help me get
moving, a few beers to calm the jitters for smoother
camera operation, and a smoke as a little visual cortex
enhancer. I cue up some Ambient Techno or some Long-
Haired music and I'm off. With camera in hand my eyes
are scanning everything, the music helps slow me down
and scrutinize more effectively. Then something catches
my eye and time becomes protracted. I don't hear the
music. I don’t feel the weight of the camera, the
environment melts away, the weather doesn’t touch me -
all that exists is the scene. My mind is going through
ISO, shutter speed, aperture, distractions external and
internal, evaluating light's qualities, filter use, post edit
effects. What will the light be like later, what elements can
l try to introduce; what do I have to remove? That
takes about 1.5 seconds.

At moments like these I feel rooted to the ground,
becoming part of the image. I am the image, and the
image is me.The rules for shooting my with a camera are
ironically the same as a rifle - Breathe, Relax, Aim,
Squeeze. It is here that I discover whether I was able to
create what my mind saw. A feeling of absolution washes
over me, fills me, a sense of contentment confirms that
this is my calling and that my life, replete with all its
iniquities and transgressions, unerringly has led me to
that place, at that point in time, to share that vision with
others.

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Artist Interview - Gregg Morgan

Your work is jewel-like color and delicate
transparency. What hardware, software,
post techniques make that happen?

As for post-editing, all of my images are
created in the camera I learned early that
carrying a ton of gear makes me want to
shorten my day. my freedom of motion is
limited, and, if I ground my gear, I spend more
time keeping an eye on that than my purpose
for being there. Traveling light and moving fast
is the key. Accordingly, I carry one weapon: the
new Canon 6D Mark II (considered a medium
format digital camera) equipped with my
primary lens, an 85-300mm zoom. The key to
the zoom lens for me is the versatility. It
provides for the opportunity to step back and
bring the scene to me or full zoom to isolate a
specific aspect of that scene (in a macro kind
of way). Most shorter lenses tend to distort an
image on the periphery', an aberration that
bends light, creating angles and curvatures
and lens flares that don’t exist in my mind’s
eye. Telephoto lenses also offer the added
advantage of creating shallower depths-of-
field. At full zoom. I can deliver a photo of one
bird in a flock or one petal of a rose. I have
much more control of my images than I have
with other types of lenses.

My local contemporaries tell me all this is almost
inconsequential. I simply respond... "Almost."

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Artist Interview - Gregg Morgan

Your work is deeply emotionally affecting. Yet, these are not shocking images. Whether rich in detail or highly minimal, they
somehow get into memory, and we keep going back to "be there" again.

What's next? Upcoming projects, shows?

In the short-term I am loading my life into my
Honda Element and driving the 6,000 miles from
Norfolk to Seattle Hoping to get there by way of
Burning Man. I say hoping because I am at
heart a realist and don't wish to jinx myself... this
journey to find my America and the "John Doe
Clubs." So join me on this adventure into the
"Land with Heart"... or is it the ’Wild-
Breadbasket?" Facebook - Mill lion.

Images throughout: © Gregg Morgan

Many have told me that I have a 'Good-Eye ' Ironically the eye is but a lens, it is the mind that sees and interprets. There are times that I
experience episodes of synesthesia: at times I can hear light, specifically sunlight. The quality of the light at times fills my head with
horns and strings and sometimes voices, rising and swelling and ebbing away, as my sight is robbed of light. Night brings on a new
symphony, that always feels like Jazz Fusion.

I love having my images printed on 20"x30"
metal sheets and mounted flush to the wall.

For me they provide an anchor; I find a center
and a sense of balance. They take me back... I
wish I could provide the soundtracks and
maybe scratch-n-sniff cards. What I do offer my
viewers is a pause, a moment to maybe inhale
and actually take the time to feel the air they
breathe I invite you to become as lost as I was
when the image was captured.

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Dek Unu Magazine
1618 San Silvestro Drive
Venice, Florida 34285
USA

Roger Leege, Publisher

Steven Pugh, Editor-in-Chief

Ashley M. Childers, Director of Marketing

Lee Rogers, Art Director

Support from the SEALS Foundation

©Dek Unu Magazine, 2018

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